1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to total automatic banking systems equipment which enable a diversity of banking functions to be carried out at a remote customer station by a bank customer in accordance with instructions given at the customer station unit which the customer must follow for any particular banking function. Such banking functions may include accepting deposits, dispensing cash, transferring funds from one account to another, or the making of payments of credit card, utility, or other accounts, or on mortgage or installment loans, or the like.
Further, the invention relates to automatic banking equipment energized by a coded credit card-type card or other coded means after card or coded means verification following entry of the card through gate means which insures proper presentation of a genuine card for verification, or entry of other coded data to the equipment.
Further, the invention relates to automatic banking equipment in which cash, usually in the form of paper money bills, in carrying out a cash dispensing operation, is delivered from a cash dispenser unit to a cash drawer which provides maximum security against attack and has a large delivery pocket to provide maximum accessibility when opened, yet protecting the contents of the open pocket against air currents, etc. when opened for removal of the cash by the customer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior automatic banking equipment units for use of a customer at a remote station to carry out a number of different banking transactions without the presence of a teller, have included various combinations of components housed at or within a safe-like enclosure which housed components have included keyboards, a card entry slot, a card reader, a cash delivery drawer, a cash containing and dispensing mechanism, and a panel where messages have been displayed for directing the customer in steps that should be taken for the particular transaction.
The manual entry keyboards that have been used have been of various types and constructions, such as a touch-tone type of keyboard, push button keyboards, mechanical switch-actuating keyboards, and keyboards having lighted buttons, electric-eye keyboards, etc. The keys in any instance should be jam-proof, vandal-proof where possible, and unaffected by environmental changes to the extent possible, as well as easy to operate.
Prior message panels have included a panel displaying chronologically-arranged permanently displayed statements indicating the steps to be taken in using the equipment. The permanent display normally is located at or near the facia for the equipment adjacent the keyboard. Another prior type of message panel has involved a lighted panel wherein a fixed series of messages is displayed one or more after another successively following the successive keying in of data at the keyboard. In either instance, prior devices have not provided means to display any one of a series of messages in which any series can be changed, can be bilingual, and can present any desired programmed series of messages for any one of a plurality of banking transactions to be carried out, as well as presenting other visual information, alternately or concurrently.
No prior automatic banking equipment of which we are aware has provided a programmable display panel at which programmed messages capable of being changed can be displayed, selectively, when desired, as when the equipment is used for performing a banking function; and alternately, at which display panel some other form of message may be displayed while the unit is in standby condition between several banking service operations; and in which concurrently with any display, a visual representation of keyed-in or otherwise entered data may also be displayed at the display panel.
Further, while cash dispensing mechanism is known in the art primarily for use by a teller who keys in the amount of paper money desired, which is delivered by the mechanism to the teller as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,158; the coordination of such mechanism, and its operation in an automatic, remote, unattended station unit, with a programmable display of directions for operation is not known as far as we are aware.
There exists a need in the field of banking services for unmanned customer service facilities remote from main banking buildings but available at all times to customers establishing authorized identity while providing maximum security for the transactions to be carried out at the remote station, which equipment may be activated by a coded credit card and then various types and kinds of information is keyed in by a customer at a manual keyboard in accordance with changeable programmable instructions displayed adjacent the keyboard, and the keyed-in data and other information is also displayed for checking, and then the cash dispensing mechanism is energized which delivers the money requested at an adjacent cash drawer for removal by the customer.